Other Services Offered
The YDN team also offers a variety of other trainings and services. These services include Program Quality Assessments, Core Values Trainings, Lego Serious Play sessions, approaching interpersonal relationships (like parenting) through strengths, and Creating Systems of Equity and Justice. Each service can be combined with others or customized to fit your organization’s needs.
Creating Safety Through Agreements
Creating optimal environments for individuals to step up and take on responsibility and leadership in a variety of ways is key to this vision. Training focus on the skills and tools that team need for a successful experience together.
Establishing Core Values
Establishing core values is the foundation for the entire organization. Core values are the bedrock of the organization’s vision, mission, goals, objectives and everyday interaction with customers, our employees and the community at large. The same values that we share about our interactions with customers have to also permeate our interactions with each other. Otherwise, our interactions with them will feel false or phony. Likewise, if employees do not feel that the values apply to their interactions with each other, it is difficult to promote those same values.
Core values set the foundation for physical and emotional safety, healthy relationships, encouraging maximum participation and skill building.
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® – Strategic Planning
The workshops are custom designed by YDN and use an integration of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® combined with the power of the Human Development Approach. LSP is a proven facilitated communication, development, and problem-solving method built upon a 3D modelling process. It is a valuable tool that will unlock innovation within individuals and groups. It maximizes the full participation, insights, and commitment of all participants involved in a safe and fun environment. LSP is designed to enhance innovation and organizational performance.
Program Quality Assessment
The Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) is a validated instrument designed to evaluate the quality of youth programs and identify staff training needs. It has been used in community organizations, schools, camps, and other places where youth have fun, work, and learn with adults. The Youth PQA evaluates the quality of youth experiences and interactions within the learning and development environments youth are engaged. For organization management, leadership and staff, the
Youth PQA process is a great way to see what is really happening in their programs and to build professional competencies.
Youth Leadership Outdoor Camp/ Retreat
The Strengths Leadership Camp/Retreat is for students and adults to explore their strengths and to apply their unique leadership talents toward formulating a concrete action plan to help make their school campus, program site or community a safer and supportive environment. This creates within each tribe, a continuum of support and leadership that will allow the group to implement more effective action on their school campus/community.
The camp content consists of strengths exploration, team building, and action planning. The strengths content consists of students exploring their Top 5 Talent Themes, as identified by the Clifton-Gallup assessment, exploring how these talents relate to their lives (their history, their present, and their future successes), and then understanding the implications of using these Top 5 Talents to be a leader.
Basic Tools for Youth Advisory Board Members
Examine the youth’s role as a trustee and facilitator versus leader. Develop skills around active listening, consensus building, goal setting, project planning and monitoring, group agreements, and facilitation.
Youth Engagement Learning Community (YELC)
The YDN has developed a three day youth engagement institute that trains teams of youth and adults on how to create youth adult partnerships, how to engage youth in the community as change agents and how to put into place organizational practices that enable ongoing youth engagement within the program or organization.
Youth listening Circles
Create an effective dialogue forum for youth to share their experiences, thoughts and ideas around the topic of school climate. This unique experience affords youth with the opportunity to share their feelings and perspectives with key stakeholders as a means of using youth voice to inform policies and procedures.
Youth Participation 101
Examine Youth/Adult partnerships, the benefits and challenges to YD partnerships, and the continuum of youth participation. Define adultism and examine your beliefs around youth and youth engagement. Explore strategies to engage youth and also look at what needs to be in place organizationally to support youth engagement.
Project Based Learning/Service Learning Projects/Community Service
Depending on the request, this training will emphasize either project-based learning or service learning. Both processes are very similar, with a somewhat different emphasis. Participants will look at the service learning/PBL research, understand the continuum of community service, service learning and learn how it relates to civic engagement and social activism. Learn the process/steps of the youth development framework and service learning/community service/PBL projects. Examine ways to integrate curriculum and arts into service learning projects and look at rubrics to measure impacts of the experience.
Diversity Training
Examine definitions and the fundamental elements of diversity. Workshop focuses on oppression and power and how that impacts youth; examine adultism and other “isms” and their impact on youth; explore personal beliefs around diversity; learn ways to create caring environments for youth that acknowledge youth culture, and build trust and empower youth to overcome diversity challenges they face in their lives.